Conan is joined by Conan O’Brien Must Go writers Mike Sweeney, Jessie Gaskell, and Jose Arroyo to for a deep dive into how they secured the most iconic scenic shots and accidentally picked up random tourists during their visit to Austria. Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/conan.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of the Austria episode?
You'll be seeing plenty of that in this episode. Yeah, I am very happy with this episode. And it was a little bit of a strange one for circumstances I will explain, but first I'd like to tell you who's here with me. It's my team, my squad, my girl squad, who helps me with all of these episodes.
The nuclear core behind all the travel shows going back to Conan Without Borders on TBS and now The Max Show. You got Mike Sweeney. Hello, Mike. Hello, Conan. And you also have Jesse Gaskell. Hello, Jesse.
Hi, Conan. Thanks for having us.
And, of course, Jose Arroyo. Hey. Hi, Conan. And this is Austria. That's the episode. The Oosterrijk?
Oosterrijk.
Oosterrijk. And this one was a little bit strange because, not to get too heavy, but I just think it's worth, you know, noting how we did it, which is quite unusual. Yes. We went to Austria, late November, I got the call about hosting the Oscars. I said, yes, I would like to do that. And then we asked Nina Rosenstein at Max, is it okay if we do that?
And she said, yes, we're thrilled with you doing the Oscars, but we do need you to finish up the last travel show. That would be great if you could do that. And we said, of course. So we immediately rushed off to Austria to start shooting. And we were working our way across the country. And I think we were maybe halfway through our travel show. We were. Exactly halfway.
Halfway through when I got a call that my father had passed away. And so immediately we dropped everything. I jumped in a van, flew a couple of flights back to Boston, got there. And then two days after that, My mom passed away, and so it was this very powerful, strange time, and it was this double funeral, and everything was sort of chaotic and hard to process.
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Chapter 2: What were the challenges faced during filming?
And then a really lovely gesture I'll just pass along is that suddenly at the funeral in Boston, Mike Sweeney shows up with Jeff Ross, with Sonam of Session, with Jason Chalemi, with Adam. And if I'm forgetting anyone, tell me. But that meant a lot to me. So I want to thank you guys for doing that. You then charged me for your airfare, which I thought was... I had Celtics tickets.
Chapter 3: How did personal events affect the shooting schedule?
You had Celtics tickets. But anyway, that blew my mind when you guys walked into the church. That was, I'll never forget that. And Jesse, I don't know why you weren't there. I wasn't invited.
They didn't tell me they were going.
Yeah. And actually you came and I had a bouncer out front. I was the only guy that had a bouncer at a wake, at an Irish wake. It's a private party. Yeah. And, but anyway, it was, so that happens. And then suddenly we're into, it's Christmas, then the fires. Oh my God. Then dislocated from my home and we're working on the Oscars. I'm in a, I'm living in a hotel, craziness. And then,
The Mark Twain? Then the Mark Twain thing happened after the Oscars. And then it was immediately the day after the Twain, the next morning, we all jumped on planes and flew to Austria to continue the Austria show. Pick it back up. You're running out of excuses. You're running out of excuses.
Chapter 4: What unique experiences did the team encounter in Austria?
No more dead parents.
But I'm getting another award. We're sick of you and your made-up awards. I'm getting the O. Henry Award. And there's a twist at the end where there's no award. So anyway, we go back to Austria, and it was... The first time we've ever done that for three days. To wind it up.
But what was very interesting is that because of all this stuff that had happened before and because I was kind of running on fumes, I think I was sillier during those three days. Oh, my God. I was extra crazy silly and pre-associating like someone on drugs and that. So when you guys put the show together.
You were in a fugue state.
I was in a fugue state. Perfect for Vienna.
No, it really was. And I think all of that combined makes it a very interesting travel series. And one... I mean, I watch it and I know that it's like bifurcated. It's divided between this is before I hear about my parents. This is this is much later afterwards. I'm back. But the viewer wouldn't know that. But it's just interesting.
And we also whether exactly exactly the same four months later. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah. Well, it was Christmassy. There was some Christmassy vibes. Some decorations. But yeah, pretty much you'd never know. I just brought it up because I thought people like Inside Baseball and that is something that's happened in that show that's never happened. We've never had to leave a country and then come back to it a couple of months later to finish one show.
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Chapter 5: How did they manage to film iconic locations?
But there's so many silly little ideas in that show. Yeah. You guys go.
We went back specifically to have you record in Vienna because we had done other parts of the country already. And then we paused it when we were in Linz and you got the word about your dad. And I remember you came down to the breakfast area and it was just you and me and you said, there's no easy way to say this, but my father passed away. And then Mike Sweeney and Jeff Frost came in and
You just said, I know one thing, I won't be taking a yodeling lesson today.
Yeah. Because that was on the schedule for that day. That was on the schedule for that day. I was gonna meet up with a fan and learn how to yodel. I know one thing. And I just knew that like, you can't, if you hear about your- You weren't in the right headspace. I don't think so. But also I knew that if you hear about your father passing away unexpectedly, And you go, right, okay, time to yodel.
Yeah, yeah.
In leather shorts. Exactly. That is the definition of a sociopath. Sociopath, yeah.
So you were a more evolved sociopath than you took a car to the airport and you went home.
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Chapter 6: What creative solutions did they implement in the episode?
You know what's weird is that you guys were very nice and you were like, Conan, you need to pack. And of course, Jeff was great. He was like, you know, we, and Chalemi, they were like, we got a car downstairs. It's going to take you to, they scrambled. You're going to take this airline to this, you know, city and then to that city. And that's going to get you to Heathrow.
And then you're going to go. And I'm acting like I'm all together, like, oh, yeah, no, no, that's okay. And look, these things happen. And I'm putting a watch on, just a watch, a regular watch. And I kept putting it on upside down and backwards. And I did that like five times. Oh, wow. I didn't, I was so, on the surface, I was acting like, uh-huh, uh-huh, I appreciate that.
And I guess we can pick up this later. I should go home. And, but in total sort of Irish Catholic denial about whatever I'm feeling and the way I knew it was that I kept putting my watch on and then I'd look at it and it was facing down and away like this. And then I'd do it again and it would be on this side. And I was like, oh.
I suddenly didn't know how to do the most elemental thing in the world, which is put a watch on.
Well, it's nice to know you're human. I mean, really.
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Chapter 7: What memorable moments were captured during the trip?
Or yes, a human sigh.
Okay, I guess that's fair. Exactly, exactly.
How do we know that I just don't know how to put a watch on? Exactly. He's watch-lexing. You look at me and I've got this tangling from my earlobe. Well, see you later. Oh, that wasn't a sign of mourning.
But we went back specifically to get the capital city, which is what we had sort of— Yeah, Vienna waited for you. Exactly. Nice. Nice, nice.
We spent a couple—after you left the first time, we had to cool our heels in Vienna for a few days. And while we were there, we were there alone with Jordan. We shot some stuff with him. Which is Dante's eighth layer of hell. Yeah. Six through eight. And we shot something with him, which we ended up using. So that worked out. But we went back to Vienna.
The fan who was supposed to meet us in Linz, where he lived... We had him meet us.
And it worked out great. And he was wonderful.
Yes. And I did yodel. You did. You learned to yodel. I did yodel. And your watch went on correctly.
You dissociated enough to yodel again.
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